A High Performance Diamond Thin Film Cold Cathode

Abstract

In the first two months of this project, we have deposited a variety of amorphic diamond coatings on various types of substrates including glass, copper, molybdenum and chromium. The films of various thicknesses have been deposited which are ready for testing. In addition, we have designed and constructed two low voltage test setups as well completed these tests for testing the high current emission properties of these films. These are described in this report. There is a need for developing high current cathodes for e-beam pumped high power visible and near UV lasers. These applications require broad area cathodes which can provide current densities as high as 1000A/sq. cm for pulse durations of 1-5 microseconds at a repetition rates as high as 100 pulses/ sec at voltages in the 100-500 kV range. These are very extreme requirements, but several cathodes such as thermionic cathodes, photo-electric cathodes and cold cathodes have been developed to deliver several tens of amperes/sq cm current densities. This project concerns with the optimization of field emission cold cathodes using diamond materials.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 29, 1993
Accession Number
ADA278623

Entities

People

  • Howard Schmidt
  • Nalin Kumar

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Computers
  • Conduction Bands
  • Corporations
  • Current Density
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Emission
  • Electrons
  • Emission
  • Energy Bands
  • Field Emission
  • Films
  • Graphitic Materials
  • Materials
  • Metals
  • Thin Films
  • Work Functions

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Pulsed-Laser Deposition